North Carolina Farmer Sentenced for Dumping Cow Manure

A cattle farmer in western North Carolina has been sentenced for dumping cow poop in a river.

Local media report that 65-year-old Michael Crowell was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Asheville on Thursday to six months of house arrest and fined $10,000. Crowell also will be on probation for three years.

Crowell had pleaded guilty in November to violating the federal Clean Water Act. In that plea, Crowell admitted he installed bypasses on his farm which discharged animal waste into a tributary of the French Broad River.

Court documents say the dumping occurred in November and December of 2015.

Crowell Farms did not have a permit to discharge liquid waste into the waters.

Crowell Farms has more than 150 cows and manages more than 200 acres of agriculture fields.